Bavaria was a very important country during the early Middle
Ages. Its territory included much of the modern German state
but also reached across the Alps into what are now Austria and
northern Italy. Bavaria thus occupied a strategic position
between the rival kingdoms of the Franks and the Langobards.
It was ruled by powerful dukes who had close political and personal
relations with the Frankish rulers but who also vigorously resisted
attempts to limit their own sovereignty. Bavaria’s
independence was ended in 788 by Charlemagne who deposed his
cousin, Duke Tassilo. Charlemagne’s son, the Emperor
Louis the Pious, then established Bavaria as the first monarchy
east of the river Rhine for his own son, Ludwig the German.
This is the first full study of the entire evolution of Bavarian
rule from the mid-sixth century into the early ninth
century It explores the changing strategies adopted by
its dukes and then its first king to establish their authority and
maintain their autonomy in face of evolving challenges to their
rule. An Epilogue continues the story into the early tenth
century.
Carl I. Hammer graduated from Amherst College (B.A.) and the
University of Toronto (Ph.D.) and also studied at the universities
of Munich, Chicago and Oxford. After a career in
international business with Westinghouse and Daimler-Benz, he is
now retired. He has published two other scholarly books on
early-medieval Bavaria and numerous articles in academic journals
in N. America and Europe. He lives in Pittsburgh.